The north is very important to get that natural light, if you have the money to do that two floor void, then heaps of natural light can flood into the space. If that is not possible than lighting, colour, windows and doors can help. The connection from house to garden is just as important as we tend to spend a equal amount of time outdoors if designed to the conditions, and don't forget the garden, that done well can extend the house from inside to outside rooms to garden in one big space, with paths and focal points to make it an experience to be in. You need to seek professional advice from someone who will help you understand the requirements from council, the building process, and the cost associated with those processes, and the best way to make the available funds work to your best advantage. There are very few clients who have unlimited budget and in an ideal world where you are lucky to start from scratch and design the house of your dreams, twisting to take advantage of views, light and site conditions, renovating an existing house is normally full of compromises. Renovation is always more expensive than building new, even twice as expensive depending on the house. Ideally the bedrooms should be grouped together with living to the opposite end. That may make sense if the children are young but does not make sense with older children even the ones studying and still living at home, or you are planning on renting out a room. Another factor is length of time at the house, is this a forever house or short term stay, that also should figure into the design. A good Architect Interior Designer is worth their weight in gold, and will be able to take you from this stage to the built form with ease. Seek one who can draw in 3D as that takes out a lot of guess work. good luck

Our bed has both ensemble and mattress on top of the wooden slats that you'd normally just chuck the mattress on. It makes the bed noticeably higher; pretty much on par with your example photo actually. It's easy to change the linen, plus easier to get out of for taller folks. (We're 6' and 6'2" respectively, so use that as a guideline.) No special costs required, so long as the slats are able to hold the extra weight the ensemble adds; which isn't much, generally - all the weight is in the mattress. At worst, you may need to run an extra support piece down the middle under the slats if you're looking at a queen/king size and it doesn't already have a middle support. Which it should. EDIT: You'll need something like these to go around the ensemble to stop it looking crappy. I suppose you could use a fitted sheet, in a pinch, but these are easy to put on and look very neat. Bed Wrap

You need to do some research of what a similar raised house sells for in your area. That will determine your budget and choices.

We put similar gates on our first house, many years ago,ours were western red cedar, we bought then at a place on the Princes Highway at Arncliffe an area of Sydney, not sure if they still trade. try Trade Cedar Gates 0428268664 might be able to help.